Kidney Failure

When your kidneys can no longer filter and clean blood, you won’t be able to produce urine as usual. This also means that waste from food breakdown, drugs and other functions are not removed from your blood. This is usually described as kidney failure.
Kidney failure may be reversed if it is acute. Also, early detection and treatment are important in managing the disease.

The symptoms of kidney disease may include:

• Uncontrolled blood pressure is usually an early sign.
• Swelling of your hands, feet, and face is also common.
• Waste accumulates in the blood and gets into the brain, causing confusion.
• Blood and urine test readings may be abnormal.

Many factors and conditions cause kidney failure, and this can determine the type of failure. This can include reduced blood flow to the kidneys, poor urine outflow and other conditions, such as like kidney infections, blood clots in the kidneys, and drugs and alcohol abuse.

Africans have a higher risk and this risk increases if you also have:

• Uncontrolled high blood pressure.
• High blood sugar or high blood cholesterol.
• If you smoke tobacco.
• If you drink a lot of alcohol.
• If you are overweight.
• If you have a family history of kidney failure.
• If you have/had high blood pressure during pregnancy.

Kidney failure usually requires medical care. Visit an emergency centre immediately:

• If you start losing weight for no reason.
• If you start having seizures.
• If you feel nauseous or have a persistent metallic taste in your mouth.
• If you can not breathe well.
• If you feel extremely tired.

You can take some steps to reduce your risk of kidney failure and to delay the failure. This can include making heart-healthy diet choices (like the DASH diet or the Mediterranean diet), keeping physically active, choosing water over beverages, treating any chronic conditions and following your healthcare provider's advice.

Self-care Tips
Many prevention tips are related to managing high blood pressure and diabetes because these two conditions are the common causes of kidney failure.

• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Eat a healthy diet. Do not add salt to food, reduce protein in your diet, and control your food portions. A healthcare provider or dietitian can help you get your diet right.
• Drink enough water to prevent dehydration. Follow your healthcare provider's recommendation for the amount of fluid to drink if you already have kidney disease.
• Quit smoking and quit alcohol use.
• Do not use medicines without a prescription.
• Reduce stress and exercise regularly

Treatment Options
There is no cure for kidney failure. But there are a few options for treating kidney failure, this includes kidney transplant and dialysis (purifying the blood with a machine). Your doctor can help you figure out which treatment is best for you.

Learning that you have kidney failure can come as a shock. You may feel sad or nervous; all is not lost. You can get help to feel better and have a fulfilling life. You may have to find new ways to cope with this new reality.
Starting dialysis means creating a new normal for yourself and your family. Dialysis helps to do some of the work that your kidneys did when they were healthy, but it cannot do everything that healthy kidneys do. Therefore, even when you are on dialysis, you will need to limit what you eat and drink.